Qiao Jinling walked forward along the dirt road. She knew that after a few houses, she would reach her home.
The scene in front of me was a little different from what I remembered. The wall that I thought was so high now looked shabby and short.
The dirt road is full of potholes and mud, like the rice cakes beaten during the New Year. It is sticky and makes people unable to lift their legs. Sand grains get into the gaps between the toes along with the rainwater, and you have to reach out to dig it out after walking for a while.
Qiao Jinling hurriedly took a few steps and saw that she was almost home. She was a little excited, but she didn't expect that her small body was a bit too much. With her thin arms and legs, she couldn't save her strength.
A figure wearing a vinyl raincoat appeared at the door. Qiao Jinling estimated the figure and knew it was her mother, Sun Huifang.
"Mother……"
Qiao Jinling ran over crying. She had just witnessed her mother's tragic death, and now she was watching her standing in front of him. She couldn't control her tears for a moment and started to cry in grievance.
"Lingling, didn't your dad pick you up? Why are you crying? Did you fall into a mud pit? Why are you covered in mud?"
Sun Huifang quickly hugged her daughter, feeling extremely distressed.
As a little girl, she threw herself into her mother's arms. She couldn't tell whether it was rain or tears on her face. She smelled the familiar scent of soap again.
Sun Huifang sighed, this girl is hunched over and crying, what will she do when she grows up?
"By the way, Mom, let's go to the back mountain to find Dad."
Qiao Jinling thought about the business and wiped her tears with her little arms. This is the most important thing.
"Back Mountain? How do you know your dad is in Back Mountain?"
Sun Huifang frowned slightly, her daughter's words were meaningless.
She didn't see her husband Qiao Qianqian all afternoon. She thought he had gone to pick up her daughter from school. He couldn't do farm work in the heavy rain and was staying at home. Who would go to the back mountain?
"Mom, don't worry about how I know! Let's go quickly. If we are late, it will be too late!"
Qiao Jinling tugged on Sun Huifang's raincoat and said anxiously. For some reason, Sun Huifang's heart moved and she decided to believe her daughter for once.
The mother's intuition told her that this daughter seemed a little different from before.
"Wait a minute! Mom will get two more raincoats!"
Sun Huifang put on her daughter's raincoat, held her little hand and went up the mountain. Qiao Jinling relied on her memory and found the area near the big hole where her father was found without much effort.
"Dad! Dad!"
"Forward! Forward!"
The mother and daughter called for their relatives in the wind and rain.
Didn't hear dad's answer!
Qiao Jinling's heart twisted into a ball. Was it too late? Just when she was thinking wildly, she heard a loud reply: "Lingling! Huifang! I'm here!"
Qiao Jinling almost rolled over, lying down in front of the pit and looking down. The edge of the pit was slippery, and she almost fell, but Sun Huifang grabbed her collar and pulled her back.
"Lingling, be careful."
Qiao Qianqian stood at the bottom of the pit, wiped the rainwater from his face, and gave anxious instructions.
"Dad! Dad! Dad!"
Qiao Jinling lay on the edge of the pit and stretched out her little hand, trying to grab Qiao Qianqian's hand. She hadn't seen her father in thirty years, and she could only look at old photos when she missed him.
Now that her father is right in front of her, she is so aggrieved that she can't help herself. Since her father passed away, she and her mother have been kicked out by her grandmother Yang Guixiang, and they don't even have a place to stay.
Her mother gritted her teeth and raised her up so that she could go to college, but in the end she suffered from ailments and died miserably!
"Lingling, your dad is fine. Stop crying. Let's find a way to pull your dad out."
Sun Huifang didn't understand why her daughter cried so miserably, as if her biological father had died.
"Um!"
The mother and daughter found a thick tree branch, stretched it into the hole, and worked together to pull Qiao forward. Qiao Jinling was weak, but she gritted her teeth and used all her strength to rescue her father.
Qiao Xiangqian is finally out!
He was breathing heavily and hugged his wife and daughter. Fortunately, they came to save him, otherwise it would be really hard to say.
"Why are you running into the mountains on a rainy day? How dangerous!"
Sun Huifang patted Qiao Qianqian's back, feeling a little angry.
"Hey, it's been raining a lot lately. Mushrooms have also come out. I wanted to pick some to sell, but I couldn't find them after looking for a long time. It wasn't raining when I came out."
Qiao Xiangqian felt that in his previous life, he was just a crow, failing at anything and getting paid for whatever he did. Drawing lots to divide the fields was also the worst. Whatever you planted, you died. Even the vegetables you planted were not energetic, and you were despised when you sold them.
It was hard to raise a few chickens, but they only ate bran and didn't lay eggs. They went to the mountains to pick mushrooms and even fell into a big pit. His mother, Yang Guixiang, didn't want to see him and felt that he was the cause of the whole family's bad luck.
Sun Huifang and Qiao Jinling helped Qiao forward and slowly went down the mountain, fearing that he would fall down accidentally.
"Dad, look! There is a big field of flower mushrooms over there!"
Qiao Jinling pointed to a field not far away, unable to suppress her excitement.
"It's true. Her eyes are so useful. She's our little lucky star."
Qiao Xiangqian was also a little excited. He would wait for the rain to stop tomorrow morning and then come over to pick it up. Then he could go to the city to sell it while it was still fresh. It would definitely be very popular.
"Then your mother still dislikes our Lingling?"
Sun Huifang has been weighing this matter in her heart. Her mother-in-law, Yang Guixiang, values boys over girls, and her granddaughter is not even as good as a piece of grass in her eyes.
"She's old-fashioned and can't change her mind. Don't argue with her. I feel sorry for our Lingling, okay?"
Every time Qiao Xiangqian encounters this question, he always answers like this. Apart from that, he doesn't know anything nice to say.
"cut!"
Sun Huifang ended the conversation with this tone.
After returning home, Sun Huifang quickly made some ginger soup, and each person drank a large bowl while it was hot. Then she boiled a pot of hot water, scrubbed everyone's bodies, and tidied up. Sun Huifang also tied Qiao Jinling's pigtails.
"Mom, I want to wear fishbone braids."
Qiao Jinling said coquettishly. No matter how hard her life was in her previous life, her mother would tie her hair in all kinds of beautiful braids.
"What fish bones? Mom doesn't know how to pierce them."
Sun Huifang used a plastic comb to comb Qiao Jinling's long hair, which was black, shiny, moist and smooth.
"My mother is so skillful with her hands. It's very simple. She just starts from the top of her head."
After Qiao Jinling briefly described it, Sun Huifang understood. With her flexible fingers, she divided her hair into two strands and flipped them up and down. Soon the neat fishbone braid was placed on Qiao Jinling's little head, and two floral flowers were tied at the end of her hair.
The strips of cloth are delicate and lively.
She looked at her thin and frail daughter, with a small head on a thin neck and a sallow face, but her delicate and delicate facial features could not be hidden. For the first time, she realized that this girl was quite good-looking.
"What do you want to eat? Lingling, you saved dad today. Whatever you want to eat, dad agrees!"
Qiao walked forward and pinched Qiao Jinling's little face.
“Meaty hand-made noodles!”
Qiao Jinling answered with a smile, showing two rows of cute little milk teeth. Over the years, she missed the meaty hand-made noodles made by her father the most. In the past, she could only eat a big bowl on her birthday.
"Okay! Let Lingling eat happily!"
Qiao picked up the dough bag and poured it into the enamel basin, but Sun Huifang stopped her in a low voice.
"Her dad, this is all we can do..."
"It's okay. It's not enough anyway. I'll let you and your child have a good meal today."
Qiao Qianqian looked at his daughter-in-law lovingly. When he married her, he said he wanted her to live a good life, but he was incapable of doing so, and her life had worn her down to the point where she was no longer as lively as before.
If you survive today's catastrophe, you will be lucky later on, so you have to eat first!